This invention relates to folding tent trailers and, more particularly, to a folding tent trailer especially suited for storing and transporting large recreational cargo such as mountain bikes, jet skis, snowmobiles and the like, and which also provides ample sleeping and eating quarters when the canopy portion thereof is moved to the open position.
There exists many different types of folding tent structures incorporated into recreational campers such as those pulled behind a vehicle; mounted to a vehicle; and integral with the vehicle itself (e.g., "RVs"). A sampling of such folding tent structures may be seen in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
3,917,337 issued to Couix on Nov. 4, 1975;
4,918,772 issued to Haile on Apr. 24, 1990;
4,057,285 issued to Bemos on Nov. 8, 1977; and
3,608,953 issued to Bernard on Sep. 28, 1971.
The Couix patent discloses a folding tent trailer in which the folding tent structure is articulated upon the trailer box which itself is mounted to the trailer chassis. The folding tent structure opens and closes longitudinally of the box and, when in the closed position, forms a top which is even with the height of the box.
The Bernard patent discloses a collapsible camping trailer which includes a plurality of rectangular formed pole members hingedly connected to the perimeter of the box. The pole members are arranged about the box such that the trailer top opens both longitudinally and laterally of the box to provide maximum living space therein. As with the Couix trailer, the top ceiling of the Bernard tent structure is attached to the upper perimeter opening of the trailer body when folded to the closed position.
The Haile and Bemos patents both disclose folding beds incorporated in a side wall of a vehicle such as a camper wherein the bed may be moved between a stored position wherein the bed lies closely adjacent and parallel to the side wall, and an extended position wherein the bed extends laterally and perpendicularly from the side wall.
While the campers described in the above patents seem adequate for their intended purposes, little or no attention was given to accommodating large cargo such as recreational vehicles which are frequently taken along on camping trips (e.g., snowmobiles, jetskis, 3 and 4 wheelers, motorcycles, mountain bikes, etc.).